As I sit here and look across my filthy kitchen floor I am thinking about what a thankless job it is to clean it. I know that as soon as I get it clean, the dog will come in with dirty paws, my daughter will spill her juice on it, and I will probably drop food of some sort on it as I juggle my youngest and try to get a meal together at the same time.
I have a number of future entries that I want to do about green cleaning tips and products, but I think that my focus for today will be the floor, because I find the biggest job to keep up with.
When my daughter first started to crawl I worried about keeping the floors somewhat clean, and I realized that babies put EVERYTHING in their mouths. I began to search for an easier and better way to clean it. I knew that most of the cleaners that you buy locally in the grocery stores are full of hazardous chemicals - when you can't let a product touch any exposed skin and "Keep Out of Reach of Children" are pretty good indicators that they are not good for you. Don't even get me started on those pre-moistened chemical cloths that slip onto the end of cheap, flimsy mops ( you know the brand I mean) which are horrible for you, generate huge amounts of garbage and then don't even get your floor clean.
After researching on the Internet and trial and error at home, I found this recipe to be the best and simplest, as well as the cheapest:
Most floor surfaces can be easily cleaned using a solution of vinegar and water. For damp-mopping wood floors: mix equal amounts of white distilled vinegar and water. If my floors are particularly dirty I sometimes add a little eco-friendly dish soap to it, but then you have to make sure to rinse.
We are currently finishing an addition on our house, and our floor space has significantly increased, making it a more onerous task. So I did some more research and read about steam mops. These use absolutely no chemicals, only water from your tap, and quickly heat the water to steam, and clean and disinfect the floor that way. For less than $100 I had to try one.
I received the Bissell model from Sears, plugged it in, and was amazed! It really worked, cleaned my floors, and was EASY! It takes 30 seconds to heat up, comes with 2 washable mop pads, and can sanitize those really nasty messes (think potty training!). It's also great for spot cleaning because it is light, portable and heats so quickly. We have tile, cork, and laminate in our house and it works on them all.
I don't know if these are available on the Island, as I wasn't able to find one, but it was simple to order through Sears to the nearest depot. I just LOVE it, and floors are now one of the easiest cleaning tasks in the house. I honestly can't believe that I lived without one of these for so long.
If you have a floor cleaning recipe/device to share that is green, please post a comment so that others can learn from your expertise. I only post things that I have tried myself, so please only comment on something that you use and like.
Posts
If we ignore for the moment that as an Independent Associate for Watkins I may be biased, but I do honestly have to say that we have some great “Green” products. The new cleaning line that Watkins came out with last summer is 100% environmentally friendly, plant based, contains no chemicals and are just about the only cleaning products we use in our home now.
ReplyDeleteOur favorite is the laundry soap which is of course phosphate free and therefore eliminates any concern for our grey water since we are so close to the lakeshore. I’d hate do harm the many geese, loons and other wildlife we have around our area. I don’t want to make this comment an advertisement, and I’m going to make an entry on my own blog soon, but I’d be happy to drop off or mail you a catalogue and some samples for you to try. You can also go to our web site at www.WatkinsOnline.com/Dewing to look through the catalogue and then just click on “view details” for more of a breakdown on how they work and their ingredients.